A neat puzzle from the ever-reliable Hurley, with a good mix of clues and a cracking Dad-joke. It took me 07:33 and I hope you enjoyed it too.
Definitions underlined in bold.
| Across | |
| 1 | Appeal of strange archaism (8) |
| CHARISMA – Get going with an anagram [strange] of “archaism”. | |
| 5 | Crossword feature, everything ultimately clear? (4) |
| GRID – Onwards with G [everything ultimately] + RID [clear]. | |
| 9 | Learner at church door might have this (5) |
| LATCH -On again using L [learner] + AT [at] + CH [church]. | |
| 10 | Untimely disclosure in peril — so disorganised (7) |
| SPOILER -Discover another anagram [disorganised], here of “peril so”. | |
| 11 | Climbing plant of creamy white colour, not gold (3) |
| IVY – Blinking IVY, the bane of gardeners. IVORY is the creamy white colour; remove “or”, which is the heraldic term for “gold” [not gold] to get the plant. | |
| 12 | Refuge in Tuscany a builder finally revamped (9) |
| SANCTUARY – Yes, another anagram [revamped] – of “Tuscany a r” [r being “builder finally”]. | |
| 13 | One seen as different if making a comeback in film (6) |
| MISFIT – Even though I knew it didn’t parse, when I had the M and I checkers I decided it must be “Matrix” and wasted time trying to justify it. I should instead have focused on the wordplay: FI [if making a comeback] inside MIST [film]. My LOI. | |
| 15 | Confused store with right list (6) |
| ROSTER – “Store” is made into an anagram [confused] with R [right]. | |
| 17 | Made to conceal weapon, article left something applied to soldier? (9) |
| MARMALADE – Crumpets were clued as breakfast items recently; now we have the equally heretical suggestion that “soldiers” (as in fingers of toast) are to be covered in marmalade instead of being dipped into a soft-boiled egg. Is nothing sacred at the Setters’ Breakfast? MADE goes round [to conceal] ARM [weapon], A [article] and L [left]. | |
| 19 | Interest in British silver (3) |
| BAG – You need B [British] + AG [silver]. As in “Not my bag, man”. | |
| 20 | Concession about name for shellfish (7) |
| SCALLOP – Lured away from the straight and narrow by my expectation that “name” would indicate N, this took me a moment. It’s SOP [concession, as in “give a sop to Cerberus”] contains [about] CALL [name]. | |
| 21 | Strike out and render a service to some extent (5) |
| ERASE – Oh, it’s a hidden [to some extent] – inside “render a service”. | |
| 22 | Maybe rowers boasted (4) |
| CREW – Very neat double definition, the second being the past tense of the verb to crow. That usage is flagged by most sources as British and archaic, but may be familiar from the King James Version of Peter’s denial of Jesus (eg “And immediately the cock crew” Matthew 26:74 KJV). | |
| 23 | Wary, promises to pay after share-out, with first part of addition included (8) |
| CAUTIOUS – Ends with IOUS [promises to pay], coming after CUT [share-out] including A [with first part of addition included]. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Element serene as clique on regular basis is accommodated (7) |
| CALCIUM – LQE didn’t look likely for every other letter of clique so it was easy to see CIU [“clique”]. That goes inside CALM [serene]. | |
| 2 | With change of heart, put one’s name forward in suitable way (5) |
| APTLY – You “apply” for a position by putting your name forward; change the central letter [change of heart] of “apply” from a P to a T to get the answer. Tricky. | |
| 3 | Unfriendly lip, one’s habit unfortunately (12) |
| INHOSPITABLE – Original surface. It’s an anagram [unfortunately] of “lip one’s habit”. | |
| 4 | Stone worker’s two family members (5) |
| MASON – Lump together MA + SON. | |
| 6 | Showing dependence, payment containing pounds I advanced (7) |
| RELIANT – Dredging up RENT for [payment] was my obstacle here. That contains L [pounds] + I + A [advanced, as in A Levels, for example]. | |
| 7 | Classic hat (5) |
| DERBY – Double definition. There are five English horse races known as the “Classics”, the other four being the Oaks, the St Leger, and the One & Two Thousand Guineas. | |
| 8 | Delay in mail, quiet — one intended, they say (12) |
| POSTPONEMENT – Ornate IKEA clue. POST [mail] + P [quiet] + ONE [one] + MENT [intended, they say – aural wordplay for “meant”/”intended”]. Phew. | |
| 14 | Outside expert on navigating the web? (7) |
| SURFACE – Groan. If you “surf” the internet a lot you could be called a “surf ace” … well I laughed, COD from me! | |
| 16 | Compensation as daughter becomes good — move back (7) |
| REGRESS – a letter swap clue, in which you have to think of a word meaning “compensation” in which D can be swapped for G [daughter becomes good] to make a new word meaning “move back”. So it’s REDRESS becoming REGRESS. | |
| 17 | It’s nice to hear Manchester United survive in Cup initially (5) |
| MUSIC – first letters [initially] of “Manchester United survive in Cup”. Not all music is nice to hear – I give you Dissonant Death Metal, for example. | |
| 18 | Clinical pharmacy shows character (5) |
| ALPHA – hidden [shows] inside “Clinical pharmacy” | |
| 19 | It’s next after 18! Well done! (5) |
| BRAVO – double definition. I’m not generally a fan of cross-referring clues but this one is rather good. Since 18 was ALPHA my immediate thought was “beta”, but of course that’s too short. What we need here is the next letter after alpha in the NATO alphabet, not the Greek alphabet. | |
21:55 for me, hoping there is still a chair available in the SCC. Lots of anagrams in the acrosses in the top half led to a slow start as I usually need the crossers for anagrams.
Have added marmalade to my shopping list after this discussion, although there aren’t many options here in California.
Thanks to Templar and Hurley.
DNF. Failed to get surface without aids. otherwise came together fairly well and no complaints.
FOI charisma
LOI crew
COD marmalade
thanks hurley and templar
13 mins.
13 on 15 x 15 in over an hour. Total inability to read clues in the right way.
Thanks for the blog.
A bit slow today. I didn’t parse BRAVO, and even looked at 18, but it didn’t click. Brain not fully functioning today – got a lot on.
13:52 FOI Latch LOI Cautious COD Sanctuary – it reminded me of when we went St Francis’s hermitage in Assisi many years ago, which was anything but a refuge. Hordes of bored Italian school children roaring around the place. Rather a shame.
Thanks to Mara and Templar
Although my daughter is a massive death metal fan (yes, you read right), I’m not aware of the dissonant form, and feel rather relieved that that’s the case 🤣 The ‘traditional’ form is too much for me, apart from a couple of tracks.
I’m now trying to imagine a mother and daughter trip to a Cannibal Corpse gig 🤣
Not me (although I do like Halo by Soil) but she and her father used to go to a lot of gigs featuring scary bands with charmless names! I’ll ask her if she knows Cannibal Corpse. I’m trying to imagine a KC in the mosh pit 🤣 If you saw either of them, you wouldn’t think it was their kind of music!
7:12, I seem to be back on the wavelength for the QC today, liked the marmalade soldiers!
13:02 I think I always spelled it MARMELADE. My research shows the quince (marmelo in Portuguese) was originally involved. And the interesting etymology “Marie est malade” referring to a bout of seasickness suffered by Mary, Queen of Scots and alleviated by some orange jam is probably wishful thinking.